Method of manufacturing cushion tires



Oct. 20l 1925. A v H. M. LAMBERT METHOD OF MANUFACTURING CUSHION TIRESINVENTOR H. M. LAMBERT ATTORNEYS oct. 2ol Y1925. 1,558,019

H. M. LAMBERT METHOD OF MAIJUFACTURI-NG' CUSHION TIRES Filed April 1l.192,4 3 Sheets-$11661. 2

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o INVENTOR @l H.M-LAMEERT ATTORNEYS oct. 20,1925. 1552?.,019

H. M. LAMBERT ETHOD OF MANUFACTURING'GUSHION TIRES Filed April 11, 19245 Sheets-Shut 5 2f) :ff (2,00

9 INVENTOR TL-" H M. LAMBERT MMM ATTORNEYS Patented Oct. I 20, 1925.

UNirED STA-,rss

PATENT ors HERY M. LAMBERT, F ORTMND, OREGN, ASSIGNOR T0 LAMBERT TIRE d;RUB- BER C0., OF AKRON, OHIO, A CORPORATION 0F ARIZONA.

EETHOD' 0l? MNUFACTURING CUSHION TIRES.

Application led April' 11, 1924. Serial No. 705,929.

Y To all {wlw/m, z't myconcem:

Beit known that I, Hanni' M. LAMBERT, a citizen of the United States,residing at Portland, in the county of Multnomah and @tate of Oregon,have invented a new and Improved Method oi Manufacturing @ushion Tires,of which the following is a. specification.-

- -My invention relates to the art of manu- ?MU tacturi'g cushion tiresand particularly cushion `tires of the ventilated type namely,thattypeai'fwhich the tire lbody is composed of solid rubber lwith holesor passages traneversely through the saine.

The coinnrionV method of manufacturing such tires at present in use isto take a rim and build up the ,tirestriicture on the yi'iiii by Windingstrips of .rubber circuinieien tially around the rim, inter-posingtransverse 2@ rubber blocks at proper interi/alato locate the transverseholes land then placing thel builtI up mass ina shaping mold andvulcanizing the same into an integral structure;

M to die-express the rubber ironia tube inachine in a longitudinal stripof the desired cross section of the tire, cut the` strip and wind itaround the rim oncenttin'gth e ends together and either placing the massin a `mold and vulcanizing it or wrapping 'the 'same and thenvulcanizing the niass in the wrapper. jectionable in-that the labor costis consider- "able because of the difficulty in gaging the quantity ofrubber to a nicety in order to avoid waste, which is-cased by the excess.rubber oozing out of the mold asA the mold closes;there is also thediculty in eect.

. ing a perfect union of the lapped ends of the'ddie-expressed stripwhen that method is use It has also been proposed tomanufacturc thesetires by filling'the rim with a base structure in the usual manner anddie-expressing in tube form lthe rubber from which ring-blanks are c t,and then stretching the ring'sblanks overt "e rim filler, placing themass in a shaping and vulcanizing mold and vulcanizing the same. `rI'hislatter method While eliminating many of the objections of the first twomethods referred to doesinot reduce the expense of manufacture to theminimum, and it is therefore an object of Both of these methods areob-V` my invention to provide a method of manufacturing cushion tires inwhich the expense of manufacture in labor cost is reduced to theminimuni'and the necessity oi' prelimi- -narily filling the rim, andthen stretching its tire blank inf-the shaping and vulcaniz ing mold tocomplete the process of manufacture. v

In its more specific nature, my present method consists in takintaposition with their axes substantially coincident and forming aroundthe rims a .tube or pipe-of vrubber which fills the rim and extendsradially from the same to a suianother method is sometimes used which iscient depth so that vwhen the mass is supported between adjacent rimsthe mass on each rim will constitute a seamless tire ringblank, themethod consisting further lin severing a group of rims with a continuoussection of rubber tubiii or piping in which the rims are embedded rom anadjacent like mass and then cutting the rubber tubing or -piping betweenadjacent rims to'lforin individual tire and rim units; these units are.thereafter placed in suitable shaping and vulcanizing molds andvulcanized under pressure to the inal desired contour and size of thefinished tire. v

In carrying out my method of manufacl turing cushion tires any suitableapparatus may e employed but Iprefer to employ a special apparatus whichconstitutes the subtitik a series oi' rims and arranging the saine sideby side iii J'ux-` jectmatter of a copending application filed April11,1924,/Serial'=No. 7 05,928, and which is illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, by reference to which it will be seen that:

Figure 1 is a 'vertical longitudinal section illustrating the apparatusemployed and the manner of conducting my invention Vwith the assistanceof the same.

Y Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure l, also illustrating the manner9i conducting my invention and showing asection of the mass severed fromthe remainder and received onV a carriage to be taken to a lathe orcutting machine bywhich the indivi ual rim-tire units are cut apart. 'G

Fi re 3 is an end View of the carriage and its contents shown in Figure2.

Figure 4 is an end view of the parts shown in Figure 1, looking in thedirection of the arrow.

Figure 5 is an enlarged detail viewpj a portion of the mandril orreceiving pipe on which the rims are placed and also showing the rimspacer and separating blanks.

Figure 6 is a detail section of a rim-tire unit before being placed inthe shaping and vulcanizing mold. A

Figure 7 is a cross section of a shaping and vulcanizing mold with arim-'tire unit in place before closing the mold.V

Figure 8 is a view similar to Figure 7 with the 'mold closed.

Figure 9 is a view showing the completed tire 'after vulcanizing andbeing removed from the mold.

In carrying out my invention it should be understood that the rimsurfaces to receive the rubber are treated in the usual way with asuitable composition to cause the rubber to adhere to the rims. Therims, indicated by 9 in the drawings, are then placed on the mandril 8,'whichv mandrilconsists of a length of piping or tubing of suitablediameter to hold the rims properly. Y The `mandril 8 is` made of pipelengths or sections each carrying a lappingvring 8@l to facilitatelining up the mandril sections as they are fed through the expressingdie 1.

The expressing die 1 is so designed as to be fed from a number of tubemachines through nozzles 2A which are coupled at -1 with the outlets 3of the'tube machines (the tube machines not beingillustrated as they maybe of any approved construction). The duets for delivering the rubberthrough the die 1 are curved or deflected forwardly as at 5 for apurpose presently toappear, and the rubber mass is fed-to these ductsfrom the tube machines by the usual screws 7,01' other suitable pressureapplying mechanism as may be found desirable.I

When the tires to be constructed are of the ventilated type the die 1`isprovided with rods 6 which form' the holes in the rubber as it isexpressed from the dies.

The rims A9 are placed seriatim on the `mandril alternately with pairsof spacerv rings 10 that have portions 11 projecting beyondthe edges ofthe rims and have abuting faces lying in planes normal to nthe axis ofthe mand'ril, the outer edges of the abut-- ting faces being bevelled asindicated at`12 to facilitate entrance of the cutting and part- .ingknife/ indicated at 13 -in Figure 2 of the drawings.

- Injcarrying out my'method with the use` of the apparatus mentioned,the rims` and' .and 2 ofthe drawings.

spacer blocks are threaded onto a section the die ducts 5 to receive therubber from the die. The screws 7 are then started into operation toexpressthe rubber through the channels 5 onto the rims, and the channels5, being forwardly directed, the movement of the rubber tends to advancethe rims and niandril 8 from right to left in Figure 1,y and pass itthrough the'die while at the same time the rims are being filled andcovered by a continuous seamless't'ube of rubber issuing from the die 1,as shown in Figures 1 When a mandril 8 has about been fed through thedie, a second inandril 8 with its rims in place is engaged with thefirst one, somewhat in the minner indicated in Figure 1 (the rims on thesecond mandril being omitted in the il-A with its contents from the`following one, it

being understood,of course, that the knife 13 is carried around thecircumference of the mass until the massis completely severed. Afterwhich, the carriage 1.4 is removed,

with its mandril and contents, to 'a suitable lathe, Where, theindividual units are cut apart to separate them alongthe planes of thec-ontacing facesof the spacer rings 1l- 1v1, which planes are normal tothe axis of the mandril, thereby producing the individual rim-tire-blankunits. These units, one.y of which is'shown in 'Figure '6, are thenplaced in the usual shaping and vulcanizing molds shown -in Figures 7, 8and 9. jThese molds usually consist 1of mating sections 17 carrying pins18 to, enter the holes 19 of the tireblank 20,- the holes 19 being theonesformed by the rods 6 as the rubber mass is expressed from the die 1,the pins 18 serving to maintain these holes while the rubber isdisplaced of mandril 8 and passed into the central to fill themoldingcavity of the mold and lto fill,'when displaced, the cavity ofthe mold chamber when the mold is closed without being such an excessjaswill `cause a' decidedl overiiow or vwastage of material when the .moldis closing. By my method and the-use of the apparatus designed to carryit out, the quantity or rubber used can be gaged so as tb avoid thiswaste now so common.

' Ocourse, if the tire is to be a Solid rub- Aering the mass With berone, without the holes, the die l would have the pins 6 omitted.

Vthile l prefer to use the apparatus such as indicated in theaccompanying drawings,

in carrying out my method it is quite obvious that otherl apparatus maybe used With more or less eiticiency and the method oi manu` facture is,ont' course, independent of any partieular apparatus.

to the axis of the rims and between adjacentrims thereby to separate themass into`r in` dividual rim-tire blanks.

2; ln a method of manufacturing cushion tires, the steps 4Which consistsin arranging a series of their axes substantially coincident, andcovering the mass with an envelope of rubber of the thickness of thedesiredvtire-blank,

then cutting the envelope in planes normal 'to the axis of the rims andbetween adjacent rims thereby to separate dividual rim-tire blanks, thenplacing the rim-tire blanks in shaping and vulcanizing molds to give thedesired final form to the mass and vulcanize the` same.

3. The method of manufacturing cushion `.ires which consists inthreading a series of rims on a suitable mandril, enveloping the mass ofrims, while on the mandril, with a continuous sheath of rubber df thethickness necessary to constitute tire-blanks severing the sheath intosections between adjacent rims thereby to produceA individual-tireblanks on their respective rims, and subsequently shaping andvulcanizing the blanks. 4. The method of manufacturing cushion tireswhich consists in placing a series of rims on a mandril injuxtaposition, diefexpressing a tube of rubber directly onto and .mal

rims adjacent one another with` the, mass into inenveloping the seriesof rims on the mandril, severing the expressed mass in planes norto theasis of the man'dril between adjacent rims to. produce individual tireblanks on their respective rims and subsequently vulcanizing saidblanks.

5. rlhe steps in the method of manufacturing cushion tires which consistin taking a series of rims, holding them side by side with their axesspaced coincident and covering the same with a seamless envelope ofrubber filling the rims andl projecting radially beyond the same to asufficient distance to enable the production of tire-blanks of a desiredthickness, severing a length of envelope with its contained rim from theremainder thereby to produce a tire-blank l on a rim.

6. rlljhe method of manufacturing cushion tires which consistsinembedding a series of rims in a seamless Atube of rubber and thensevering the tube into bands, each band containingyone rim andconstituting a tireblank and thereafter vulcanizing the blank.

7. The method of manufacturing cushion l tires which consists inembedding a series of rims in a seamlessr tube of rubber and thensevering the tube into bands, each band containing one rim andconstituting a tireblank, and thereafter shaping and vulcaniz'ing theblank by confining the rim and blank in a vulcanizing mold of thedesired volume and contour. x

8. The method of manufacturing cushion tires `Which consists intaking-,a series of.

axes coincident, enveloping said rims in a seamless envelope ofrubber,the external surface of which is a cylinder,` and simultaneouslyproviding longitudinal ducts in rims, placing them side by side withtheirl said envelope paralleling the axes of the i rims and spacedaround the axes of the rims, and thereafter severing the envelopebetween adjacent rims in' planes normal to th axes of the rims, therebyleaving indivi ual rims .with tire blanks thereon, holdingthey shape ofthe holes in the blanks, and deforming the rubberof the blanks into thedesired contour and dimensions, and,

while holding the same so deformed, vulcanizing' the blank to sustainits form. HENRY M. LAMBERT.

